The present invention is directed to a structural support guiding system that reinforces a set of rods that are used by a hydraulic bar lift to lift iron tubes into a holding bin of a directional drilling machine.
Horizontal Directional Drilling, is a minimal impact trenchless method of installing underground pipe, conduit, or cables in a relatively shallow arc or radius along a prescribed underground bore path by using a surface-launched drilling rig.
Directional drilling machines, such as the DITCH WITCH, are used to accomplish horizontal directional drilling.
Direct drilling machines use drilling stems that are connected to each other by directional drilling machines and drilling heads that are attached to the end of the drilling stems boring the path wherein conduit will be laid. Drilling stems have male and female fasteners that are attached to each other and directional drilling machines can store up to 150 meters in drilling stems in directional drilling machine holding bins. The drilling stems are made of metal and are heavy in nature.
After bored paths have been created by the directional drilling machines, the drilling stems are collected and housed within the bins of the directional drilling machines (hereinafter DDMs. The DDMs collect the drilling stems and separate each stem prior to housing them within their bins. To house within their bins, the DDMs use hydraulic bar/stem lifts to lift the stems drilling within the bins. Typically, there will be at least two hydraulic bar lifts, separated an equal distance from a central portion of the bin, that will receive each separated drilling stem and lift each stem within the bin. Each hydraulic bar lift uses a concave head that is attached to a rod that goes up and down to push each drilling stem within the bin.
The present invention is a structural support that is used to ensure that the rod of the hydraulic bar lift lifts in a linear line rather than skewing from the linear direction, thereby preventing the breaking of the rod of the hydraulic bar lift. The rod of the hydraulic bar lift may skew from the linear direction when the weight of the bars within the bin increases or when a drilling stem does not rest correctly upon the concave portion of the head of the hydraulic bar lift when storing the bars within the bin. When the rods of the hydraulic bar lift skew past a certain point they tend to break and thereby make the directional drilling machine inoperable.
For the foregoing reason there is a need for a structural support guiding system that reinforces a set of rods that are used by a hydraulic bar lift to lift iron tubes or drilling stems into a holding bin of a directional drilling machine.